The present disclosure relates to a chair having an integrated seat and chair back. More specifically, the present disclosure relates to a chair in which the chair back and seat move together to provide a reclining position for the user and which further includes integral ganging arms movable between storage and operative positions.
Presently, many different types of high density, low cost stackable chairs are available for use as both economical and temporary seating. The use of these low cost stacking chairs has resulted in a very large number of different types of chairs that have a stationary seat and a stationary chair back.
Recently, the focus in the seating industry has been to create ergonomic designs that increase the comfort level for the seat occupant. One large aspect of increasing user comfort is to provide a chair that can move between an upright and a reclined position. Many of the most commonly available stacking chairs do not provide any ability for the chair back to recline relative to the seat. Designs that do allow the chair back to recline relative to the seat do not include any ability for the seat to move forward at the same time as the reclining movement of the chair back.
U.S. Pat. Nos. 6,722,735 and 6,935,690 disclose embodiments of chairs in which the chair back and seat are movable to increase comfort for the seat occupant. Although these two references disclose a chair having integrated movement between the chair back and seat, the mechanisms used to affect such movement suffer from deficiencies in both manufacturing and function.
Since low cost stacking chairs are often used in creating rows of seating, there is a desire to include some type of ganging mechanism that allows the chairs to be joined together to define the desired rows. Various types of ganging devices have been developed to link chairs together in such a manner. However, many of these ganging devices include some type of bracket that extends from the side of the chair, which can create problems when the chairs are not used in a ganged application.